The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) have published their annual report on zoonoses and food-borne outbreaks in the European Union for 2010.
A number of animal models have been used to study how influenza viruses may work in humans: mice, hamsters, guinea pigs, and both cotton rats (Sigmodon) and ordinary rats (Rattus).
A meeting and a workshop on the ECDC point prevalence survey (PPS) of healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial use in acute care hospitals took take place in London on 5-6 March 2012.
One of the most important functions and outputs of the laboratory aspect of the Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System (GISRS) coordinated by WHO are biannual influenza vaccine strain selection meetings that take place each year around February and September. These scientific meetings make recommendations on the antigens to go into the influenza vaccines for the northern hemisphere (February meeting) and southern hemisphere seasons (September meeting).
In this letter the authors describe being able to identified a sustained community transmission of oseltamivir-resistant influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 viruses in Australia
The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently announced that it has asked for clinical trials of a vaccine targeted against the novel A(H3N2)v triple reassortment viruses infecting some people in the USA.